Stay true to the dreams of thy youth

I'm in California enjoying the warm beach and the company of good friends, so my reading list is a bit light for the previous days.

• Guard troops to head to border states Aug. 1 - AP

  "National Guard troops will head to the U.S.-Mexico border Aug. 1 for a yearlong deployment to keep a lookout for illegal border crossers and smugglers and help in criminal investigations, federal officials said Monday. The troops will be armed, but can use their weapons only to protect themselves, Gen. Craig McKinley, chief of the National Guard Bureau said at a Pentagon news conference. The troops will undergo initial training and be fully deployed along the nearly 2,000-mile southern border by September."

• A special report on Egypt: The long wait - The Economist

• Man convicted of rape for consensual sex with woman but told her he was Jewish (English) - Ali Abunimah

  "Jail time for Arab who impersonated a Jew and raped through fraud A court sentenced a resident of East Jerusalem who lied to a young woman and told her that he was Jewish in order to have sexual relations with her to a year in a half of prison time. “Protect the public from such criminals.”"

• China Becomes World's Biggest Energy Consumer - WSJ

  "China is now the world's biggest energy consumer, knocking the U.S. off a perch it held for more than a century, according to new data from the International Energy Agency. The Paris-based agency, whose forecasts are generally regarded as bellwether indicators for the energy industry, said China devoured 2,252 million tons of oil equivalent last year, or about 4% more than the U.S., which burned through 2,170 million tons of oil equivalent. The oil-equivalent metric represents all forms of energy consumed, including crude oil, nuclear, coal, natural gas and renewable sources such as hydropower."

• Netanyahu: 'America is a thing you can move very easily' - Checkpoint Washington

  ""I know what America is," Netanyahu told a group of terror victims, apparently not knowing his words were being recorded. "America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction. They won't get in their way." Netanyahu also bragged how he undercut the peace process when he was prime minister during the Clinton administration. "They asked me before the election if I'd honor [the Oslo accords]," he said. "I said I would, but ... I'm going to interpret the accords in such a way that would allow me to put an end to this galloping forward to the '67 borders."

• Health overhaul first provisions start to kick in

  **Socialism, communism, fascism!! Poor 1 million Americans are being forced by the fascist Obama government to receive health care...** "The first stage of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul is expected to provide coverage to about 1 million uninsured Americans by next year, according to government estimates. That's a small share of the uninsured, but in a shaky economy, experts say it's notable. Many others - more than 100 million people - are getting new benefits that improve their existing coverage. "

• Heavy, rough and hard – how the things we touch affect our judgments and decisions | Not Exactly Rocket Science | Discover Magazine

  "When you pick up an object, you might think that you are manipulating it, but in a sense, it is also manipulating you. Through a series of six psychological experiments, Joshua Ackerman from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has shown that the properties that we feel through touch – texture, hardness, weight – can all influence the way we think."

• Clinton offers support for Georgia - Europe - Al Jazeera English

  **Despite the alleged "reset" in US-Russia relations, the US has undertaken several controversial and antagonistic moves against Russia this week - Russia spies, missile defense in Poland, support for Georgia, etc.** "Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has reiterated Washington's support for Georgia and criticised Russia's "occupation" of two breakaway Georgian regions during a visit to Tbilisi. Clinton also urged Moscow to abide by a ceasefire agreement that stipulates its forces must return to positions held before the 2008 Georgia-Russia war over South Ossetia and Abkhazia."

• Syrian prisoners 'disappeared' - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

  "At least 52 prisoners have disappeared from a Syrian jail following disturbances in 2008 that left 22 people dead, human rights groups have said. Families of the missing men say they have not been heard of since violence broke out at the Saydnaya Military Prison on July 5, 2008."

• China Sentences U.S. Citizen to 8 Years Over Secrets - BusinessWeek

  "A U.S. geologist was sentenced to eight years in prison by a Chinese court after being convicted of violating the state secrets law by selling a database on the country’s oil industry."

• 'Israel trying to block U.S.-Saudi Arabia defense contract' - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

  "Israel is trying to prevent a big defense contract between the United States and Saudi Arabia from going through, a senior defense source told Haaretz. The deal includes the purchase of scores of new F-15 fighter jets and the upgrading of the 150 F-15s already in the Saudi air force. "